Artificial nipple with reinforcement

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an artificial nipple. More particularly, the present invention relates to an artificial nipple, which has durability enough not to be torn with fatigue load resulting from teeth contact since fiber nets are embedded within the thickness of the artificial nipple, eliminates a difficulty in breathing by facilitating the flow of air, and prevents obstruction of the airway of an infant by distributing milk suction pressure when the infant sucks milk. The artificial nipple according to the present invention has a nipple body including a root portion, a teat portion with a feeding hole, and a narrow neck portion for making a connection between the root portion and the teat portion. The artificial nipple further comprises fiber nets ( 20 ) in the form of bands which are embedded within the thickness of the nipple body ( 10 ) such that they extend in a lengthwise direction L of the nipple body and are spaced apart form one another at a predetermined interval in a circumferential direction A of the nipple body, and an air inflow groove ( 15 ) formed in a portion of a surface of the nipple body ( 10 ) which does not overlap with the fiber nets such that the air flow groove is connected to the feeding hole ( 12 ).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an artificial nipple.

More particularly, the present invention relates to an artificialnipple, which has durability enough not to be torn with fatigue loadresulting from teeth contact since fibers net are embedded within thethickness of the artificial nipple, eliminates a difficulty in breathingby facilitating the flow of air, and prevents obstruction of the airwayof an infant by distributing milk suction pressure when the infant sucksmilk.

BACKGROUND ART

Artificial nipples are classified into thump type nipples and roman orround type nipples. In such artificial nipples (hereinafter, simplyrefer to as “nipples”), there is no change in the positions of feedingholes that are located at the centers of the nipples while there is adifference only in the sizes of the feeding holes according to infants'ages.

In case of a thumb type nipple, since a feeding hole 2 is merely locatedat a position offset slightly upward from the center of the nipple asshown in FIG. 1, the feeding hole 2 is considered as being substantiallydirected to the palate of an infant when the infant normally holds ateat portion 1 of the nipple in the mouth.

Since the feeding hole is not oriented directly toward the throat of theinfant in view of the position of the feeding hole 2, this configurationmay be understood as being a safe configuration for avoiding the throat.However, it should be noted that it is not true due to the followingreasons.

That is, although the feeding hole 2 in case of the thumb type nipple islocated approximately in the middle of the palate of the infant, thisposition can never be considered as a safe position in unspecifiedpostures such as a lying posture except normal postures such as asitting or standing posture of the infant when the infant sucks milk.When the infant lies on his/her back, it can be considered that his/herairway is opened. Even though the feeding hole 2 is oriented toward thepalate of the infant, it is substantially impossible for the infanthimself/herself to delay or block a linear flow of milk introduced fromthe palate into the throat of the infant in view of low reflexes of theinfant. Therefore, a configuration in which the feeding hole 2 is inline with the throat as in the thumb type nipple can be considered ashaving low safety.

In case of a roman type nipple, the aforementioned problem becomes muchseverer. In this type nipple, a feeding hole 2 is formed at the vertexof a sphere-type teat portion 1 as shown in FIG. 2 and thus a directionin which milk is discharged from the feeding hole 2 is in line with thedirection of the throat of the infant. Accordingly, since the milk isintroduced directly into the throat when the infant sucks the milk,there is a very high possibility that a risk of respiratory disturbancemay occur.

In cases of both the thumb and roman type nipples, air is not commonlyintroduced into the mouth of the infant. Thus, a high vacuum pressure isestablished in the mouth when the infant sucks the milk, and a high milksuction pressure is generated. This leads introduction of the suckedmilk into ears, eyes or lungs of the infant, which may be a cause ofvarious diseases and death. Therefore, there is a need for acountermeasure against such a problem.

Further, in such a conventional nipple, there is a high possibility thatan indented neck portion 3 of the nipple with which teeth of the infantintensively come into contact may be damaged, as compared with the otherportions of the nipple. Thus, there is the risk of safety accident dueto tear of the nipple.

In this regards, the present applicant has proposed a silicon nipplewith a fiber net embedded therein in Korean Utility Model RegistrationNo. 137262. With the embedded fiber net 4 in the nipple as shown in FIG.3, even though a portion of the nipple is torn, the torn silicon portionof the nipple is prevented from falling off.

Although the nipple with the fiber net embedded therein can be easilymanufactured since the fiber net 4 is embedded throughout the nipple,however, a great deal of the fiber net is required, which leads ineconomic inefficiency and increase of the unit cost of the nipple.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

Therefore, the present invention is conceived to solve theaforementioned problems in the related art. An object of the presentinvention is to provide an artificial milk-feeding nipple, wherein fibernets are embedded to a minimum in an efficient manner to reduceproduction costs of the nipple.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an artificialmilk-feeding nipple, wherein outside air is sucked together upon feedingmilk so that milk can be continuously sucked without separate regulationof breathing, and a milk suction pressure is distributed to reduce therisk of obstruction of the airway due to concentrated discharge of themilk.

According to the present invention for achieving the objects, there isprovided an artificial nipple having a nipple body including a rootportion, a teat portion with a feeding hole, and a narrow neck portionfor making a connection between the root portion and the teat portion,comprising fiber nets in the form of bands which are embedded within thethickness of the nipple body such that they extend in a lengthwisedirection of the nipple body and are spaced apart from one another at apredetermined interval in a circumferential direction of the nipplebody, and an air inflow groove formed in a portion of a surface of thenipple body which does not overlap with the fiber nets such that the airflow groove is connected to the feeding hole.

Further, a reinforcement thickening may be formed around the feedinghole in an inner surface of the nipple body.

Moreover, as the nipple body is viewed in a circular cross sectionthereof, an apex or summit of a valley of the air inflow groove may beoffset toward one side by θ from the centerline of the nipple body.

Furthermore, a reinforcement thickening may be formed at a portion of aninner surface of the nipple body that is at the back of the air inflowgroove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a conventionalthumb type of artificial nipple.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a conventionalroman type of artificial nipple.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of a conventional artificialnipple with a fiber net embedded therein.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the configuration of an artificial nippleaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a portion of the nipple designated by “A”in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the artificial nippleaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a view of the nipple as viewed in a direction designated by“B” in FIG. 4.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

An artificial nipple according to the present invention comprises anipple body 10 including a root portion 11, a teat portion 13 with afeeding hole 12, and a narrow neck portion 14 for making a connectionbetween the root portion 11 and the teat portion 13.

Fiber nets 20 are embedded in the form of stripes within the thickness tof the nipple body 10. That is, the fiber nets 20 take the shape ofbands and are embedded such that they extend in a lengthwise direction Lof the nipple body 10 and are spaced apart from one another at apredetermined interval in a circumferential direction A of the nipplebody 10.

This case is efficient since the basic function of delaying orpreventing complete breakage of the neck portion 14 is maintained evenwhile the amount of the embedded fiber nets 20 can be greatly decreasedas compared with that of the conventional nipple described above.

A variety of methods of embedding the fiber nets 20 can be applied.

For example, as shown in FIG. 7, one fiber net in the form of a band isdisposed from one side of the root portion to the opposite side of theroot portion via the vertex of the teat portion 13, and another fibernet in the form of a band is repeatedly disposed at a position where itdoes not overlap with the previous fiber net in the same manner as theprevious fiber net. Thus, a fiber net arrangement in the form of stripesis obtained. In this case, the respective fiber nets overlap with eachother at the vertex of the teat portion 13.

In the nipple of the present invention, an air inflow groove 15 forconnecting the root portion 11 and the feeding hole 12 is formed in aportion of a surface of the nipple body 10 that does not overlap withany fiber nets 20, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, so that outside air can beintroduced through the air inflow groove 15 upon feeding milk.

Of course, a conventional nipple has also been formed with an air holethat performs a function similar to the outside air-introducingfunction. However, the air inflow groove in the present invention isdistinguishable from the air hole as follows. The primary object of theair hole is to cause outside air to be introduced into the nipple uponfeeding milk so that the inner pressure of the nipple can become theatmospheric pressure, thereby ensuring smoothness of milk suction. Onthe contrary, the air inflow groove 15 in the present invention is causeoutside air to be introduced into the mouth of an infant so that thepressure in the mouth can become the atmospheric pressure, therebyensuring the smoothness of milk suction.

Since the air inflow groove 15 is connected to the feeding hole 12, airguided by the air inflow groove 15 disperses milk discharged from thefeeding hole 12 to prevent the milk from being injected in a certaindirection.

Further, since the pressure in the mouth is the atmospheric pressureupon feeding the milk, the milk suction pressure is not high and thushigh-pressure injection of the milk is prevented.

Therefore, it is possible to obtain an excellent effect of preventingobstruction of the airway or occurrence of a sneeze-like spasm ofinfant's windpipe due to the concentrated discharge or high-pressureinjection of milk.

The air inflow groove 15 in the present invention is substantially U- orV-shaped in section as shown in FIG. 5 in such a manner that as thenipple body 10 is viewed in a circular cross section thereof, an apex Aor summit S of a valley of the air inflow groove 15 is offset by θ fromthe centerline OL of the nipple body 10.

The feature of such a design of the air inflow groove 15 is to maintainthe configuration of the air inflow groove 15 even though the nipplebody 10 is deformed upon feeding milk, thereby ensuring smoothness ofair inflow.

More specifically, it will be apparent that since the nipple is made offreely deformable and flexible silicon material, it is deformed due tothe milk suction pressure upon feeding milk. If the air inflow groove 15becomes flat and thus its configuration disappears due to suchdeformation, the air inflow groove may not properly perform itsfunction.

Accordingly, when the inclined angle is applied to the air inflow groove15 as described above, resistance against the deformation by which theair inflow groove becomes flat is increased. Thus, since a capabilityfor maintaining the configuration of the air inflow groove is enhanced,the air inflow function can be maintained regardless of whether thenipple body 10 is deformed, thereby ensuring reliability.

Considering that the nipple body 10 in the present invention becomesthin at a portion corresponding to the air inlet groove due to theformation of the air inflow groove 15, a reinforcement thickening 16 isformed at a portion of an inner surface of the nipple body 10 that is atthe back of the air inflow groove 15, as shown in FIG. 5.

Further, a reinforcement thickening 17 is also formed around the feedinghole 12 in the inner surface of the nipple body 10, as shown in FIG. 6,so as to prevent premature breakage of the nipple due to stressconcentration around the feeding hole 12.

As described above, since the fiber nets are embedded locally in thenipple in the present invention, the breakage life of the neck portionis prolonged even while materials can be utilized efficiently. Eventhough the neck portion is torn, it is prevented from easily fallingoff. Thus, it is possible to ensure safety and reliability.

Moreover, there are advantages in that smooth milk suction can beachieved due to suction of outside air together with milk and theobstruction of the airway or occurrence of a sneeze-like spasm of thewindpipe can be avoided in advance due to the distribution of the milksuction pressure.

REFERENCE NUMERALS FOR DESIGNATING MAIN COMPONENTS IN THE DRAWING

10: Nipple body

11: Root portion

12: Feeding hole

13: Teat portion

14: Neck portion

15: Air inflow groove

16, 17: Reinforcement thickening

20: Fiber net

1. An artificial nipple having a nipple body including a root portion, ateat portion with a feeding hole, and a narrow neck portion for making aconnection between the root portion and the teat portion, comprising:fiber nets in the form of bands which are embedded within the thicknessof the nipple body such that they extend in a lengthwise direction ofthe nipple body and are spaced apart from one another at a predeterminedinterval in a circumferential direction of the nipple body; and an airinflow groove formed in a portion of a surface of the nipple body whichdoes not overlap with the fiber nets such that the air flow groove isconnected to the feeding hole, wherein an apex or summit of a valley ofthe air inflow groove is offset toward one side from the centerline ofthe nipple body.
 2. The nipple as claimed in claim 1, further comprisinga reinforcement thickening formed around the feeding hole in an innersurface of the nipple body.
 3. The nipple as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a reinforcement thickening formed at a portion of an innersurface of the nipple body that is at the back of the air inflow groove.